Irish House Decision Coming Soon
Olympic Council of Ireland president Patrick Hickey tells Around the Rings a decision on Irish House for the London Olympics is expected "in the near future."
Hickey says the original plan of having the venue at the iconic Round House in Camden fell through, partly because of the ongoing financial difficulties in Ireland.
"After successfully negotiating with them we were let down by [Guinness owner] Diageo who after promising to get involved then pulled out at the last minute," Hickey says.
"We tried to get our Government and Tourism Board to come into the deal but they refused.
"As you know Ireland is going through a difficult financial period at the moment and sponsorship is a difficult area.
"We will now revert to what we have done in the past," Hickey adds, which is an Irish pub featuring Irish music and dance.
He tells ATRhe has "no doubt" the new venue will follow in the footsteps of Irish House in Vancouver, which had hours-long waits for entry.
Hickey did stress that organizing the venue is not a responsibility of the OCI.
"However, we felt with the Games in London we needed to do something special as the Irish are the biggest ethnic group in the U.K. with one in every four Londoners having an Irish connection."
Inner Temple Reservations Over Belgian Plans
Inner Temple officials are apparently concerned about the mass of visitors to Belgium House during the London Olympics.
A report on British legal website The Lawyer says officials are now expressing reservations after learning concrete plans for the site.
Inner Temple is one of the Inns of Courts, associations for lawyers and barristers in the U.K., and as many as 50,000 guests could visit the inn during the Games period.
"It’s like taking St James’s Park and dumping it on us," one Inner Temple resident was quoted by the website. "How rent-paying members of the inns will take to being swarmed I don’t know."
One official with Inner Temple, Ian Moyler, seemed more upbeat about the venue’s role with the Games.
"London’s going to be chaotic," he was quoted as saying. "It’ll affect the end of term, but it means making plans now. Staggering start times, stocking up on food or water because there are going to be no deliveries: it won’t be a problem. We should be very happy to have them."
Written by Ed Hula III.
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